Blake Shelton’s “Honey Bee” has gone digital gold (500,000 downloads) in just 7 weeks to become the fastest-selling digital single ever by a solo country male vocalist. There’s no accounting for taste.

But the song isn’t a great deal worse than a lot of the forgettable 90′s schmaltz it models itself after, and at least it doesn’t end with the Jesus reference I was expecting from the title (which would have been a shameless rip-off of Jimmy Wayne’s sappy-sweet hit “I Love You This Much”). For his part, McCreery just sounds like Josh Turner’s young, starry-eyed demo singer who also sometimes rubs his signed copy of John Michael Montgomery’s Greatest Hits like a rabbit’s foot the morning of a big trig test. He’s got a few nice moments of tone and phrasing, and the rest just says, “I haven’t found my own voice yet.”

In recent interviews, Kellie Pickler has made much of her desire to take her music in a more traditional direction. Now you can hear her new single “Tough” here. Pickler has called it her favorite thing she’s sent to radio and described it as having a “kind of dirty hillbilly [sound].” Think she’s on the right track?

Prediction: In hindsight, Julie Roberts will find this song and video only slightly less embarrassing than her cover of “Girl Next Door.” But if it allows her to stick around and record more like “Unlove Me” and “You Ain’t Down Home” somewhere down the line, I’m all for it.

If you can’t get enough of the A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin on country, check out his Bakersfield Sound article in the “Gateways to Geekery” series — a series that aims to give newbies the right starting point into various fields of interest made unapproachable by the devout fandoms that form around them. Rabin explains why the Bakersfield Sound might require such bridge-building:

Country music conjures up an unfortunate set of imagery for many: pick-up trucks, Confederate flags, mullets, and tallboys of Bud Lite for starters. The intelligentsia has historically found the genre easy and fun to ridicule, dismissing it as the soundtrack of ignorance—hillbilly idiocy in musical form. Country can be a daunting field for neophytes to get into because it brings so much cultural baggage with it, most of it negative, and because the homogeneous pabulum you hear on contemporary country radio doesn’t provide much incentive to go beyond the stereotypes or preconceptions.

Here’s the new music video for Jacob Lyda’s “I’m Doing Alright.” Spoiler alert: He sings in the middle of a field, in a barn, and from the back of a pickup truck within the first 30 seconds. Overachiever.

Comments

There is nothing remotely “traditional country” about Pickler’s new single = it just has the token contemporary pop country banjo moving it along while a one or two-note fiddle and steel occasionally rise above the overmixed drums and guitars. Sorry Kellie, Loretta and Dolly this is not. You fail.

I definitely wouldn’t consider the new Pickler single to be squarely “traditional,” but it’s definitely her countriest single release in a long time. My initial reaction to “Tough” is that it’s “pretty good,” but we’ll see how it wears on me. I am curious to see if the rest of her album goes even more traditional.

Agree with your Julie Roberts prediction. I only put 4 songs from her 2004 debut album on my i-Tunes, the two you mentioned plus “Rain on a Tin Roof” and “The Chance”. Didn’t buy her 2nd album and it looks like I won’t be buying her latest. I like her sound (although I’ve never her her sing live) but her material leaves a lot to be desired.

I didn’t watch a second of American Idol this season (my usual reaction to the show), BUT I was sorely disappointed to see total cutie Danielle Lauderdale get the boot off “The Next CMT Superstar” Friday night. In next Friday’s finale showdown it’s Steven vs. Matt, ie smooth southern bluesy pop style vocals vs. the more traditional outlaw sound (real outlaw, not that Eric Church style false bravado). I choose Steven as the likely winner while watching the very first episode, so next week I’ll see if I was right!

Its good to hear that a Pistol Annie’s album may become a reality! Ashley and Angaleena could both use the extra cash that Miranda’s involvement will generate for them. I just hope and pray that neither Jack White nor Brett Beavers will get within a mile of that album! (lol)

Damn, I missed Sunny Sweeney on the Opry last night! DOH!

What was Country California?

A smart, satirical take on the modern country music landscape published continuously from April 2008 to November 2015.